Thyme For Courage Now

Please join me on my journey as a beginning urban homesteader in Oregon. I love cooking from scratch, food preservation, soap making, shopping at local farmers markets, gardening and learning new skills. I believe we are in the next Great Depression and we will all need to re-learn homesteading skills and apply them to life in the 21st Century in order to make it to the 22nd Century! Let us begin.

Saturday, February 8, 2014

Over the last couple of days, our lovely Eugene, Oregon, has gotten approximately 8 inches of snow. Today, we got around an inch of rain. Everything out there is freezing tonight. My neighbors and I were standing outside listening to the tree branches around the neighborhood crack, break and fall. It sounds like gunshots. My friend in Pennsylvania described their ice storms in similar terms, so here's our little ice storm! I have three trees (the same kind that are coming down all over town) looming over the apartment triplex I live in. I hope we don't have branches breaking on us in the middle of the night, but we'll see!

I checked in with my neighbors to make sure they were all prepared in case we lose power tonight. It's completely possible - across the street, the electrical wires to our complex have a huge branch leaning on it. If it breaks, we will likely be without power. Many of my neighbors, bless their hearts, are idiots. Most of them looked at me blankly - "Huh? We could be without electricity? Why?" So I explained it to them using small words :) Hopefully they'll at least know to have a flashlight by their beds now and extra blankets etc. If it goes out, I'll have to check on them all tomorrow and make sure they haven't frozen to death. I wish I were joking, but in some cases (basket cases) I am not!

At the very least, you need a very basic kit to get you through a storm like this one for 72 hours or so. I am assuming you have SOME basic stuff if you live anywhere that has winter - blankets, hats, gloves, maybe sleeping bags. If not, go to Goodwill or Salvation Army or St. Vincent de Paul's and pick up some sleeping bags for under $10 each. $5 at the laundry mat in the big washers and you are set.

Heat - Sleeping bags, hats, wool socks, long underwear, hot water bottles, sleeping hats, mergency blankets for $2 at Walmart (put them between your blankets if the power goes out). If you don't have boots and you have to go out in snow, put on a pair of wool socks, then a plastic vegetable bag from the grocery store, then another pair of larger socks over it, and then your shoes.

Food - Store food that doesn't need refrigeration or long cooking times (bouillon soup bases, canned soup/meats/veggies/fruits, salamis that require no refrigeration, bouillon for making soup, instant potatoes, Cream of Wheat, peanut butter, honey, Nutella, instant rice, baby food). Stock up with fresh fruit, veggies and breads. Make sure you have cooking oil or butter. If you lose power, eat what's in your refrigerator first, then freezer (tape it shut if you keep forgetting), then pantry. Don't forget to have pet food on hand!

Water - Keep a gallon per person and pet, per day, on hand at all times. A water filter would be helpful, as would real quality buckets (you can find excellent buckets at feed stores). Do you know where your nearest source of outdoor running water is? What is the water quality? What would you need to get it, store it and purify it? Think about it. Consider a 55-gallon barrel for storage under your home's eaves.

Sanitation - Got toilet paper? Diaper wipes, plastic bags, soap, laundry detergent, buckets, pads, diapers, washcloths, solar showers (from the camping section). If you know a storm is coming, wash your clothes and wash all the dishes in your sink just in case. Put aside a few gallons of water in the bathroom in case you have to use it to flush with.

Friday, January 31, 2014

Ah, the time of year when winter is dragging on and spring is yet to be around the corner... which means, it's time to start thinking about SEED CATALOGS. Garden porn at it's finest and most wishful. I like drooling over pictures of beautiful vegetables (come on, I can't be alone in that regard?). I am considering what I want to grow this year. Looking online at all the glorious seeds always makes me want at least an acre... while I have much, much less room... probably two 8'x8' beds and a dozen 5-gallon containers. Truth be told, I love the IDEA of having a huge garden but with my adult ADD I frequently fall short of my ideals. Last year I even lost my glorious Lemon Thyme, which was my baby. I forgot to water it. It is a good thing that TS hasnot HTF yet because if I had to eat out of my garden to keep myself alive, I would starve in short order. Well, I guess that's what it's all about - a learning process, right? I'd better start planting perennials, trees and bushes and work on my barter skills :D In the meantime, I will keep experimenting and finding out what grows in my area - and what I'm capable of growing. I also admit I keep more seeds than I need on hand to share and as potential barter materials in trade.

Thursday, January 30, 2014

Here's some of the successful things my son and I grew last summer! All photos here are mine. I grew several types of tomatoes, several types of garlic, shallots, lemon cucumbers, slicing cucumbers, Swiss chard, blackberries and LaRatte fingerling potatoes. We had oodles and oodles of tomatoes, but the pickling cucumbers failed which meant no dill pickle spears (I made hamburger dills instead with slicers). When we lived a few summers ago in Pennsylvania with friends who farm, my friend Gene made fermented pickles and my goal is to make pickles as good as his! I would also like some day to be a garlic farmer and sell to local restaurants :)

I am just starting to make my urban homesteading dream a reality. We live in the wonderful Willamette Valley in Oregon, in the Eugene area. We live in a great area for urban homesteading and homesteading in general, and there is lots of community support for endeavors such as this. Please follow me and maybe we can help and inspire one another. I have container gardened for years and am a dabbler in many homesteading type crafts - soap making, felting, canning & food preservation etc, and I'd love to learn more. This summer I will be planting two 8'x8' garden beds, and hopefully more! I look forward to sharing our journey with you.

About Me

I am a single mom raising a special needs child while working and trying to figure out life. Oh, and I worked on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and Star Trek: First Contact once upon a time (and some other shows and movies). I am a preschool teacher, voracious reader, mosaic artist, urban homesteader, a poet and a thinker. I am an unapologetic do-gooder with delusions of reality; a kitchen witch who raises children and vegetables and who wants to save the world. All of these words describe everything and nothing about me. I am a catalyst. Boldly go.